Mary Barra, General Motors' senior vice president of global product development, becomes CEO in January, the first woman to hold the position for a major carmaker.

Written by

James R. Healey
| USA Today

General Motors global product chief Mary Barra has been named the new CEO.

Already one of the world's most powerful businesswomen, she is the first woman CEO of a major automaker and one of the few ever to head a major industrial corporation.

Barra, 51, takes over Jan. 15 from Dan Akerson, who has been CEO and chairman of the GM board since Sept. 1, 2010. Akerson, 65, said he accelerated his planned retirement by several months, after his wife recently was diagnosed with an advanced stage of cancer. ...